


When The Clouds Part

by Ryokuryuupride



Series: Lover, Keep Me Safe [2]
Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Violence, Established Relationship, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff, Guns, Heavy Angst, Human Trafficking, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of side characters, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mild Gore, Nightmares, Sad with a Happy Ending, Smut, literally so many
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:26:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27187912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryokuryuupride/pseuds/Ryokuryuupride
Summary: Two years have passed since Jae-Ha and Kija's realities collided and the world as they knew it came to an end. It was nice to have a home, and teamwork—and a lot of big guns—made living in the apocalypse much more manageable.But all is not perfect in Haven. Corruption and deceit cling to the walls, and with the outside world overtaken by chaos, humans hungry for control pose just as much a threat as the creatures trying to tear them down. And when the clouds part, will Jae-Ha and Kija's love have saved them from the storm?[Hiatus because author is too self-conscious about writing a full plot, sorry guys]
Relationships: Jae-Ha/Kija (Akatsuki no Yona), Kaya/Zeno (Akatsuki no Yona), Son Hak/Yona
Series: Lover, Keep Me Safe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1831471
Comments: 11
Kudos: 15





	1. A New Day

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all we're back for some more zombie actionnnnn!!!!!!!!!!! It's taken me a bit, but I'm pretty confident that I'm far enough into writing this that I won't fall behind schedule :333 I put down 9 chapters as a guess but I don't actually know exactly how many it'll be yet, it might be one or two longer, give or take. We'll see!
> 
> So fasten your seatbelts, kids, because this is gonna be an emotional one. I'm so excited to finally post this thing and I'm ecstatic for every single one of you who came back for more!! Your support and excitement has meant so much to me!! I love you all and I hope you enjoy~
> 
> -Ahem- Oh yes by the way, as a treat for waiting so long, we begin with a little steam ❤️

He didn’t ever want to get up. In his embrace was the object of his every affection, sound asleep against his chest. That darling face, in all its charm, that Jae-Ha wished to smother in kisses for as long as life allowed it. And life was short, so why wait?

The sun through the window was catching him in a blaze of white, searing and utterly breathtaking, and he couldn’t help nuzzling into Kija’s hair to kiss the top of his head. Slowly, the hands draped around his torso shifted as Kija stirred, catching Jae-Ha by surprise when lips met his bare chest.

“Good morning,” Jae-Ha said.

“Mmph.” That sweet voice, muffled by his skin, made Jae-Ha feel like he was floating. More kisses peppered his chest and he couldn’t help a fluttering laugh.

“And what is it that you’re so excited for?”

Kija broke away to look up at him. “You.”

The room was chilly, they hadn’t bothered getting dressed after their private affairs the previous night, but heat sweltered around them and Jae-Ha could almost taste it. And there was something else he wanted to taste, too.

He guided Kija down onto his back and hovered over him. Soft hands held his face, and though it was early morning, Jae-Ha was faced with the stars. He’d mapped those constellations, memorized every speckle in Kija’s eyes. Yet every time he looked, it felt like discovering a new universe. And there wasn’t a single place in the world where Jae-Ha fit more perfectly than Kija’s lips. He leaned down to kiss him, addicted to them, as if they breathed life into his body with every movement. Lava bubbled around his heart, boiling him from the inside. He knew he’d never tire of that warmth.

The way they were positioned, Kija’s knee was between his legs, grazing him. It started fine enough, though with every feathery touch it became too much to simply keep going. He could feel himself getting hard and he needed those light touches against his length to either stop or get firmer, more certain. Kija seemed to think the same.

He took Jae-Ha’s hips and shifted him so he was centered, straddling him. Suddenly their kisses were deeper, rougher, and they rocked themselves to get any friction they could. Jae-Ha’s hair dripped down over them, casting shadows over their faces until Kija pushed it back and held it there, pulling just slightly.

“How do you want this?” Kija asked against his mouth, breathless.

“Decisions, decisions…” To be sure, seeing Kija tremble underneath him, taking him in, was a delicious sight. Although this seemed like a nice morning to let Kija take control, to have him pin Jae-Ha down with those eyes and make him beg. They’d done the former last night, anyway.

“I think I’d like it if you take me this time, my dear.”

Kija smiled, devilish. “With pleasure.”

With that, he took Jae-Ha’s hips again and flipped them over. The sight of him was godly, strong and flushed and _perfect_ ; and though Jae-Ha loved sinking down and riding him like mad, this was just as good. As far as he was concerned, Kija could have him anytime, anywhere, in any position.

His hands roamed over warm, pale skin. They glided across Kija’s scars and Jae-Ha's nails dug in, just slightly, every time gentle teeth skimmed over his neck. He couldn’t take it. He needed Kija, and he needed him _bad._ It was then that he saw the lube that still sat on the bedside table and shoved it toward Kija, startling him a bit.

“You’re taking too long,” he said.

“Forgive my sluggishness.” Kija gave him a wicked grin, the one he used when he knew he was the one with power in the situation. Over time, he’d learned how to challenge Jae-Ha in what he was best at, how to counter his remarks and shameless teasing. Jae-Ha’s breath came out hot with the rush flowing through him, at this man that he loved so dearly. He couldn’t resist kissing him again as a hand trailed down to his ass. The sensitive skin there tingled and burned for more, for those fingers to spread him open and have Kija fill him up. He ran his hands through that fine white hair, like the purest silk, and lifted his hips just a bit to give Kija more room to push his finger in… 

_Ding! Ding!_

Kija turned his head. “Was that…”

“…The _fu_ _cking doorbell?_ ”

_Ding, ding, ding, dingdingdingdingding!_

Jae-Ha let out a frustrated whine into Kija’s shoulder. Of course they'd be interrupted now, right when they got to the good part. While Jae-Ha was tempted to ignore it and let their guest wait outside, the incessant ringing showed no signs of stopping. Besides, he knew Kija would have none of it.

“I’ll get it.” Kija withdrew his hands and got up to find his bathrobe, leaving Jae-Ha with his heated skin now aggravatingly cold. For a moment, he simply laid there huffing. He could already tell that this was _not_ going to be his day.

Slowly, he got up, feeling heavy as his feet hit the ground and he threw on his robe a bit too roughly. Upon finally dragging himself to the apartment door, he saw Kija there, with Zeno and Yoon on the other side.

“Ah, Ryokuryuu! Good morning!” Zeno waved at him from his spot hanging over Yoon’s shoulders.

“Right, so as I was saying,” said Yoon. “The Fire Guards lost a shipment of ammo at the northern wall, so we’ve gotta get them another load today.”

Jae-Ha crossed his arms. “It’s our day off, can’t you get Geun-Tae to offer some?”

“No, the Earth Guards have to be more stingy with their supplies, it’s populated on the west side so they can’t afford to give away their shipments.” Yoon looked up from his notepad to glance between Jae-Ha and Kija. It took less than a second for him to raise an eyebrow at Kija’s messy hair, Jae-Ha’s lazily tied belt.

“Sorry to interrupt your _d_ _ay off_ ,” he said.

“We’ll be on our way shortly, Yoon.” Kija tried to smile through his blush as he closed the door and Zeno gave them one last excited wave. When he finally turned around, Jae-Ha made sure to show him his best pout.

“Oh, stop it,” said Kija. “We can continue as soon as we’re done.”

Jae-Ha draped his arms over Kija’s shoulders. “Promise?”

Kija’s hands made their home on Jae-Ha's waist and he leaned up to kiss his cheek. “You think I would break my word?”

“Never.” He caught Kija’s lips and slid his hands down his back, the fluff of his robe sliding through his fingers. Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad after all.

They got dressed and headed out, the buzz of their little electric car gliding down the street. They’d been behind the walls for two years, but Jae-Ha never did get over the size of them. He could see one of the far-off walls from the passenger’s seat, standing more akin to a mountain than a barrier, and he rolled his window down and stuck out his hand to feel the autumn wind push past it. On mornings like this, he could almost forget why he was there.

Yona’s bright hair could already be seen from afar as they pulled into the warehouse lot. A trailer was already being prepared, all they had to do was help fill it.

Hak greeted them without so much as looking up as he loaded boxes off a pallet. “Mornin’, lovebirds. Sad that we ruined your private time?”

But two could play at that game. “Speak for yourself,” Jae-Ha said as they got closer. He stopped Hak and leaned in to sniff his shirt. “You smell like perfume and I know it isn’t yours.”

Luckily, Yona was out of earshot, for he knew that she’d all but explode if she’d heard. Though as per usual, Hak was largely unphased. 

“You don’t know that. Maybe I’m just getting into…” He trailed off and then gave himself a sniff. “Lavender and vanilla.”

_“Right.”_

Kija went inside ahead of him with an obvious eye-roll. As Jae-Ha followed, he was greeted with a much more lively member of Hak’s family.

“Ah, gentlemen, welcome!” Mundok waved them over to a table where a sheet of loose-leaf paper waited. “Just sign your names here so I can make sure you get paid for the extra time. I hope you weren’t too busy.”

Without even seeing his face, Jae-Ha could feel Kija’s annoyance as soon as he began his sentence. “We did have some early morning activities planned.”

“But it can’t be helped.” Kija signed his name, rather messily in his haste to get to loading and avoid eye contact. Mundok raised an eyebrow but carried on regardless.

“Well, I hope the rest of your day goes as planned,” he said. Whether he was being purposely clueless or not was unclear to Jae-Ha. Mundok was subtle in his teasing but loud and brash with the affection he piled onto others. Jae-Ha still found it hard to believe that this gentle old man had raised the ever-sarcastic _Hak_ of all people.

Ready to be moved, in the first rack by the door, were the boxes they were to load; extra shipments that they likely wouldn’t be needing there on the east side. Although, with the round-the-clock border patrol and constant surveillance over supplies, it was a wonder how anything could go missing. 

Jae-Ha rolled up his sleeves and pushed a pallet to the trailer. “So how’d the fire guys lose a shipment?”

“We’re not really sure,” said Yona. “A trailer disappeared from their storage last night.”

“And the Fire Guard head-honcho’s throwing a fit.” Yoon took notes as the others loaded. Jae-Ha never knew what was written in that little notepad of his, but if Yoon was the one holding the pen, he knew it must be important. The kid seemed to be the only one with common sense in the place. “He’s some guy from Saika, he keeps wailing about the pride of his people and how he won’t let it stand. Not to mention he upped security around the northern wall, won’t let anyone besides his own scouts anywhere near.”

Kija furrowed his brows. “Will we be able to deliver this, then? I’ve seen him worked up before, he won’t be making exceptions without a fight.”

“Don’t worry, everyone.” Zeno heaved up a box with visible effort. “We’ll just tell them we’re getting them some goodies and they’ll let us through, no problem!”

“I don’t know if gun ammo counts as ‘goodies’,” Hak deadpanned.

It didn’t take long with the seven of them working to fill the trailer. Once they were done, Shin-Ah retreated into the warehouse, coming back out in uniform: a cap and a jumpsuit that hung a bit loosely on him.

“I’ll drive,” he said.

Jae-Ha waved him off. “Good luck.”

With that, Shin-Ah and Yoon climbed into the car. Jae-Ha watched them gather their things in the seats, until they were no longer looking, then felt a smirk creep onto his face even as he tried to resist it. Kija had gone back inside the warehouse and so Jae-Ha followed with a skip in his step. He found his boyfriend leaning over a table, writing something down, and wrapped his arms around his waist from behind.

“Time to go, yet?” he asked.

“I think so,” said Kija. He set his pen down to reach up and touch Jae-Ha’s face. “Though I think we may need to stop for groceries on the way.”

“Mmph, you’re _killing_ me, dear. Can’t we wait until later?”

“Not unless you want to go back out right after the deed, and I know you’re going to want to stay and cuddle.”

Jae-Ha pressed a soft kiss to Kija’s neck. “Is that a problem?”

Kija pushed back at him. “It is when we can’t get anything else done. I swear you’re so impatient.”

“You know I’m not the type to keep my virtues in my pocket. Although there’s something else in my pants I think you’d like—”

But Jae-Ha’s libido seemed to be cursed that day, for a pair of tiny hands grappled onto his leg in a—quite adorable—little hug. He looked up to see Mundok again, and down to see another much younger member of Hak’s family tree.

“Uncle Jae-Ha! Uncle Kija!”

“Tae-Yeon, that’s enough,” Mundok said. “They’ve got business to attend to, I hear.”

Kija coughed and straightened his shirt, and the little hands around Jae-Ha’s leg retreated.

“Sorry,” said Tae-Yeon, playing with his fingers. He wore one of the warehouse-standard blue caps to match with the workers, however large it was on him.

“That’s alright, bud. We were just on our way out.” Jae-Ha gave him a pat on the head. Tae-Yeon returned it with a bright smile, like the sun reflecting off a snow-capped mountain.

Hak truly was the black sheep of the family.

When they finally went on their way they found the market busy, full of smiling workers and families stocking up on their rations. Grocery stores had long been run down and the few that remained open had little to show for it, so civilians who couldn’t grow their own food depended on the market. It took up a whole street with booths on each side, full of produce, bread and meat, clothes, blankets, and water. The goods were homemade or grown and Jae-Ha remained eternally grateful for the skills that folks managed to cultivate within the walls. Haven didn’t exactly have a leader, nor were there many rules for civilians to follow as long as they weren’t dangerous. So the marketplace remained a way for people to connect, not out of obligation but a desire to help those who needed it. The place wasn’t flashy, not pristine and professional like a traditional farmer’s market—missing person posters and garbage often lined the street—but it was welcoming. It was ordinary people banding together to keep each other fed and warm. And Jae-Ha loved that about Haven.

He took Kija’s hand as they walked down the aisle. “What do we need today, my dear?”

“You tell me,” Kija said, squeezing his hand playfully. “You’re the one that cooks, I just noticed our stock was a little low.”

“Ah, yes, we can’t be letting you in the kitchen after what happened last time,” said Jae-Ha. 

Kija huffed. “That was _one_ time and you haven’t let me help cook since.”

“Darling, you started a fire.”

“And I put it out!”

Jae-Ha stopped at a booth and examined what they had. Fresh cuts of meat and spices, which they could definitely stand to get more of. 

“Not before you ran around the house in circles, screaming your head off.”

The vendor gave them both a strange look while Kija frowned and crossed his arms; and wasn’t he just so _adorable_ like that? But Jae-Ha took what he needed and paid, and they moved to the next booth.

“You know, you’re real cute when you’re angry.”

At first, Kija said nothing, to Jae-Ha’s amusement, who assumed he was simply still pouting too much to respond. He leaned down to see Kija’s face—how funny it must look—when Kija leaned up at the same time to peck him on the lips.

“ _You’re_ cute.” He said it with an air of finality as if he could not be argued with, and Jae-Ha felt that familiar lava pulse through him. He never got tired of being with Kija.

It didn’t take them long to find everything they needed. They headed out of the market and back onto the main road, strolling hand-in-hand down the sidewalk. Small, puffy clouds began to coat the sky, like light speckles from a paintbrush, and though Jae-Ha did plan on returning to his morning activities with his boyfriend…

“So, where to, mister?”

Perhaps they could stop and smell the roses first.

“I was thinking the park,” Jae-Ha said. He stepped in front of Kija and pulled him along as they walked. “Enjoy the day for a bit, then head home. Sound good?”

Kija smiled and for the billionth time in his life, Jae-Ha wished he could frame that smile and keep it displayed in his mind forever. “Lead the way.”

* * *

He had no idea where he was.

Tall buildings stretched overhead, warping and twisting as he passed. The streets and air around him turned a cold, foggy blue as dawn trickled into the city. Jae-Ha tried to keep his hands from shaking but he could feel his wooden bat trembling as he grasped it for dear life.

The gun shop had to be nearby, it _had_ to be. He knew the city well enough to find it on his own, or so he’d thought. As he passed block after block, it was still nowhere to be seen. He was out in the open, hungry, unprotected, glancing behind himself every few steps.

And he wasn’t alone.

Jae-Ha heard a growl then, across the road at the sidewalk, where one of those _things_ stood. Its face dripped with what he could only assume was blood and before he could move, it sprinted toward him.

He took off down the middle of the street, running between bodies left to decay and cars never to see another drive. The thing growled at him again and as he turned to look at it, it pounced and sent him to the ground. Jae-Ha held it back with his bat as it bit down. He could hear the wood cracking with the pressure, blood spilling down the sides from its mouth. There was no way to get around it, no way to shake it off.

Unless…

He pushed his foot up against its chest, fixing his grip on the bat as much as he could while holding the creature away. It reached its hands out blindly to smack and tear at his clothes. Like it was running completely on instinct, didn’t know any better.

_One…_

Jae-Ha turned his head as it let out a muffled shriek and spewed blood at him.

_Two…_

Its mangled hands finally grabbed a firm hold on his shirt and tugged him forward.

_Three!_

Jae-Ha kicked out as hard as he could. The force sent the thing off of him and a slight pull of the bat toward himself yanked the rotting teeth from its gums. He was free.

But he blinked and suddenly he was on the other side of the road. And there it was standing right in front of him.

It lunged at him again, no teeth this time, and he threw his hands up and closed his eyes. When they opened, the creature had a different face. He blinked again and it had another. And another, and another.

Until it settled on someone he knew.

“Maya…?”

Maya—no, the thing that looked like Maya, face still decaying and bloody—hissed at him. _“Jae-Ha... Why?”_

Jae-Ha blinked again.

_“Why did you leave us?”_ The thing looked like Toku now. Jae-Ha blinked again and it was Tatsu. Then Ryou.

“No.” His head was spinning. What did they mean? “No, I didn’t—I don’t understand.”

It was Rowen now. _“You never came back._ " Back to Maya. “ _Why?”_

Their voices were distorted, rotten, and hurt Jae-Ha’s ears with every word. Each shift passed faster and faster until even with his eyes completely open, he could see the change from the face of one old friend to another. Until they all blended together into something, someone, he could no longer recognize.

_“Why…”_

_“Didn’t…”_

_“You…”_

_“Save…”_

_“Us?”_

He couldn’t look at them, couldn’t tell them to stop. They were right.

_“You’re a coward.”_

Dead, cracking fingers pulled him up by the collar. There in front of him was someone he’d never wanted to look at him like this. The one person he couldn’t bear it from, and she refused him the privilege to look away. _“You always have been, brat.”_

Gigan smiled and Jae-Ha felt his heart crack into pieces. His feet skidded just barely along the road as she rose him up higher and the asphalt crumbled apart, caving into nothingness. And just as she dropped him into the depths, she shifted one last time.

“Enjoy the fall,” Garou said.

And Jae-Ha woke up.

He was cold but horribly sweaty in the heavy air of his bedroom. A thin blanket covered him from the waist down, all the coverage his bare skin had. And Kija was there, nestled with his back against Jae-Ha as the little spoon, soft hair glowing in the patchy light peeking through the blinds. He stirred and turned to look at him with those bright blue eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “You just jerked awake all of a sudden.”

Jae-Ha couldn’t think of a joke, no sinister quips or comments came to his aid, so he stayed silent. Kija turned around fully then and rested his hands on Jae-Ha’s face.

“Was it that dream again?”

Jae-Ha leaned into the touch. “You know me too well, my dear.”

“I know when you’re hurting.” He pulled Jae-Ha's head to his chest as he ran his hands through long green hair. It brought him back to warmth, exactly what he needed. His love for Kija ran through him in streams of magma. Like his blood was made of it, it spread fire through every part of him. A sweet flame that tasted like sugar on his tongue, smelled like fresh night air, looked like a starry sky. Felt like home. He wrapped his arms around Kija’s waist and up his back, and not a moment passed before he couldn’t help tracing his fingers up and down the scars engraved in his skin.

“Were you scared?” he asked. “When you got these?”

“Yes,” Kija answered simply. “But it doesn’t scare me anymore.”

Jae-Ha nuzzled further into Kija’s chest. “I think I’ve been afraid for a long time.”

“Of the zombies, or something else?” Kija’s fingers slid through his hair like bliss. “You’re always putting yourself in front of us like a shield when we’re scouting, even when you’re tired or hurt. I don’t think it's dying that you’re afraid of.”

Leave it to Kija to inspect every detail about him, despite how oblivious he could be. 

“I’m more afraid of losing you than myself.”

Kija pulled away from him. There was a strange, sad twist in his eyes, like the constellations were scrambled together. He kissed Jae-Ha’s forehead and leaned against it.

“You think you’re the only one who feels that way?”

The words hit Jae-Ha with surprising force. Of course he’d known that, but it was a notion he always tiptoed around, not wanting to picture the worst-case scenario. Losing Kija would leave him hollow in ways he couldn’t begin to fathom. Himself dying, he could stomach. But they were relatively safe during scoutings. And as long as he protected Kija, he’d be content with just that. He’d made his peace. 

He was already closing back in on sleep, Kija’s warmth soothing his aching heart, when suddenly his boyfriend jerked and yelped at the sound of the phone abruptly ringing.

“Ow, dear, you kicked me!”

“Oh, sorry! Sorry!”

The phone continued loudly alongside the new pain in Jae-Ha’s side, and he picked it up to see Hak’s number. “What part of ‘day off’ do you people not understand?”

_"Jae-Ha,_ " Hak’s voice came through fast and ragged, the single word from his tongue making Jae-Ha’s hair stand up. Hak never called him by his name. 

He proceeded cautiously. “What is it?”

“Tae-Yeon’s missing.”

Something in Jae-Ha’s stomach dropped like a sack of rocks. He glanced over to Kija, who’d heard every word, and they shared a look of horror.

“Where was he last?” asked Jae-Ha.

“He went with Shin-Ah and the shipment to the northern wall, he said he wanted to ride with the trailer. Then Shin-Ah called after they got there and said he—”

Hak cut himself off. Kija shot out of bed to get dressed and Jae-Ha followed, still holding the phone to his ear.

“He was just gone.”

“We’ll be right there, hang tight,” said Jae-Ha. “And Hak?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t forget to breathe.”

He heard Hak let out a series of shaky breaths before he continued.

“Thanks, Droopy Eyes. Meet us at the northern entrance.”

They raced over, Jae-Ha speeding through the empty road. Most cars were worthless by then, but scouts guarded the walls and brought survivors inside, and they were granted special access to electric cars.

That day when Jae-Ha and the others had arrived at the walls, begging and pleading to be let in, it was scouts who came out to save them. An early form of them, anyway. Even two years later, Jae-Ha remembered the one who’d pulled him off the ground to safety, and they’d shared a laugh and a drink when he and Kija had become scouts, too.

When they arrived at the entrance, they ran in the corridor to see the rest of the group getting their protective gear on.

“Where’s Hak?”

“Double-checking the perimeter,” said Yona. “He and Shin-Ah searched the entire northern warehouse, but…”

Shin-Ah stepped forward, brandishing a tiny blue shoe. “But we found this here… just before the outermost door.”

So Tae-Yeon was likely outside the walls.

“Hakuryuu, Ryokuryuu, here,” Zeno handed them their gear and they rushed to put it on. There was something cold lingering in the air, the clouds growing and blocking out the sweet sun that had been so comforting just hours earlier. But something else caught Jae-Ha’s eye then.

“Ugh, great,” Yoon groaned, looking in the same direction. An older man with long gray hair was nearby, yelling at Mundok and a few other scouts. The Fire Guard captain was a piece of work and Jae-Ha would’ve thought it funny if he weren’t so on edge.

“Honestly, Mundok, this is preposterous! I’m the captain of this wall. I run this entrance, and you think you can waltz up here with your team and put _my_ men in danger? After you already had us lower our security for your shipment?”

But Mundok took none of it. “No one is in danger except for Tae-Yeon. They know him, they’ll have a much better chance of finding him than any of your goons.”

“A fool’s errand. You’re a captain too, you must understand.” He moved closer to Mundok. “I cannot allow these scouts to use an entrance they are not designated to. We have rules, you know.”

“Oh yeah? And who exactly do we answer to? No one takes orders except the scouts from their captains, and that’s it.”

“You can’t possibly expect me to accept this treatment. If you’re going to risk my wall being infiltrated again for your little rescue mission, then I expect compensation—”

Jae-Ha wasn’t sure he’d ever seen a rage so palpable, so strong in every particle in the air. And none, definitely, as quiet and terrifying as Mundok’s.

“One of my grandsons is out there,” he said. His voice was low and scraping as if he intended for his words alone to drag his opponent’s face through gravel. “My team is going. End of discussion, Soo-Jin.”

His lungs almost hurt with the dread hanging around them, and Jae-Ha felt Kija take his hand.

“Okay, I checked around the area again. He’s not inside anywhere.” Hak walked up, already suited and ready. “Let’s go.”

Jae-Ha faced the last set of doors as they opened, the one behind them already secured down, and squeezed Kija’s fingers. It was their signal, their “see you on the other side” for every time they left the walls. Whether that meant in the comfort of their apartment or dead behind a dumpster somewhere. They’d see each other again.

They walked out, guns at the ready, and the last door shut behind them.


	2. A Scout's Duty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! I'm a day late for this update, yesterday I had a ton of household cleaning to get done and then in the evening I ended up getting self-conscious about posting the chapter, even though it was all finished and I knew it would be fine 😅 It be like that sometimes, sorry guys! Anyway, I hope you find this one interesting, we've got some new players coming into the mix soon...
> 
> Enjoy!

There was something utterly enchanting about the concept of experiencing something for the very first time, a rush brought on by wonder at the world and at oneself. A first house, first job, first kiss, first love. Or in Jae-Ha and Kija’s case that day, first zombie patrol.

It was five days after they’d reached the safe haven. The scouts had seen the potential they and the rest of their little bunch held, the survival skills and crucial instincts necessary to fight and protect. They’d been introduced to Mundok then, and taught the basics of scouting.

“So…” Jae-Ha dragged the word out for dramatic effect. _"You’re_ Hak’s grandpa?”

Mundok had smiled. “The one and only! Well, adopted. I took him in when he was a boy. His brother Tae-Yeon, too.”

They sat in a makeshift office, though the walls were worn and the windows were broken. Jae-Ha wondered about maintenance, when the establishments within Haven would be restored. But the first priority was getting the walls sturdy and killing any zombies left inside. The latter had been done quickly, for a military base sat at Fuuga’s heart. They’d been lucky.

But the walls were still under construction. They were upright but not secure, panels falling down when attacked too brutally.

“Those nasty fellas outside are set on scratching at every piece of these walls until we can get them sturdy,” said Mundok. “We need more guards around to keep them at bay, and my scouts said you two and your friends held out on your own a long time before they could bring you in. I should thank you for bringing Hak and Yona here safely, as well.”

“I believe it was mostly luck. But we do work well as a team, don’t we?” Kija smiled up at Jae-Ha, lighting up the room like a curtain flowing open in the chilly, moonlit night. He couldn’t help but smile back.

“So, you’re offering us a job, then?” asked Jae-Ha.

Mundok leaned forward, folding his hands on the table. “Yes. I’m sorry, I know you would likely want to relax in comfort after all you went through to get here. As of now, the scouts are mostly soldiers who were already stationed here, but if you could help us get this place safe even a moment faster, I would be glad to have you on the Wind Guard.”

“Wind Guard?” Kija asked.

Mundok leaned down to sift through papers in his desk drawer. It took him a moment to find what he was looking for, but eventually, he brought up a rough sketch of a map.

“This is Fuuga,” he said. He pointed to a smaller spot and brought out a marker, drawing a square around it. “We’re here, within these walls. Each wall is to be maintained by a captain of sorts, and the east side has been dubbed the Wind Guard.”

Jae-Ha chuckled. “And now you’re gonna tell me the other ones are elemental, like fire and water and stuff?”

“Yes.” Mundok stared at him with complete sincerity, as if he were baffled that Jae-Ha would find it funny. He appeared to have no further comments and the look on his face made Jae-Ha clear his throat.

“So there’s Wind…?”

“Fire, Water, and Earth, after Kouka’s settling tribes.”

“Ah, gotcha.”

“And Sky runs the military base at the center of Haven,” Mundok explained. “It’s where the scout teams have gotten all their firepower. There are enough resources there to last a long time and with Fuuga’s rich mountains nearby, we can begin manufacturing more ammunition before long. But we still require strategy.

“Each captain has their own faction of scouts, with smaller teams within them. These teams will be chosen for specific tasks based on combat abilities and other skills. I want you, along with the rest of your friends, to guard the eastern entrance until construction around it is complete. It’s the same tunnel corridor you all entered when you got here, each wall has one. We would also provide you with free housing on the east side as well as access to the warehouse there.”

Jae-Ha and Kija shared a look. Immediately, they could each tell what the other was thinking, as if they could translate the shine in each other’s eyes into spoken word.

“You sure?” Jae-Ha asked.

Kija grinned. “Positive.”

“But you know, there’s—”

“Yes, but it’ll be okay. And then we’ll…”

“Sounds perfect.”

A deliberate-sounding cough broke their conversation and Jae-Ha looked over to see Mundok smirking at them.

“You two know each other well, I see.”

“Just discussing our answer.” Jae-Ha took the time to uncross his legs. He saw Kija stiffen in the corner of his eye, lifting his jaw and letting his hands fall to his lap like he was a businessman in some sort of corporate meeting. Even in the apocalypse, he couldn’t help but be pristine and poised. “We agree to join. But you mentioned that most of these scouts are military. Even if we know how to handle a fight, do you really want civilians with you?”

Mundok stood and grabbed a sticky-note and pen, messily jotting something down. “If you can use a gun, and you won’t get my men killed, then you’re on board. Here are directions to the eastern entrance, they’ll suit you up and give you the run-down.”

And the next thing Jae-Ha knew, he and Kija were at the entrance dressed in armor; thick padding on their limbs and hands, bulletproof vests, and large helmets.

“Even if you get a bite,” one scout had told them. “They won’t be able to break through to the skin.”

They and a few other new recruits were being distributed guns when Jae-Ha looked over to Kija, who was shamefully obscured by his tinted helmet.

“I really wish I could see your pretty face, dear,” he whispered.

Even without a visual of Kija’s expression, he knew he was scrunching his eyebrows together in innocent—albeit annoyed—confusion.

“You see my face every day.”

“And it’s not nearly enough.”

Kija laughed and smacked his arm playfully. They waited for directions and soon, none other than Hak showed up, clearing his throat and speaking blandly like he always did, though with a sense of leadership Jae-Ha hadn’t seen in him before. An honorable commander to follow out into the open.

“Today, we’ll be patrolling the area around the entrance until the workers are finished building it by this evening. This’ll be a clean mission, so no fooling around and no acting like a hero.”

He sent a pointed look toward Jae-Ha and Kija in his last sentence and Jae-Ha fired finger guns back at him. 

“And one last thing,” said Hak. “There will be no dying today. Not under my watch.”

That day held a special place in Jae-Ha’s heart. When he had stepped back outside those walls for the first time, armed and prepared for war, he’d felt like he was in a video game. When zombies had come forth to strike, he’d mowed them down with such ease it frightened him. When one managed to grab hold of his arm and bite down, Jae-Ha feeling nothing through the heavy padding, he’d felt invincible. Perhaps too much so.

He’d learned to control himself since, after a scuffle or two where Kija had been forced to come to his rescue. And how silly it was for his knight in shining armor to scold him to _"_ _just be careful, for God’s sake!”_ Although he could only hold in his excitement so much.

But today was different.

Now, as he exited the northern entrance with his friends in tow, silent as falling snow, he felt no excitement. No invulnerability as he normally did. For this was no normal scouting.

He could feel heat radiating off of Hak next to him, his usually calm and fatally focused movements now seeming fast and scattered. He had half a mind to tell the poor man to go back and wait for them to find Tae-Yeon. But he knew Hak wouldn’t have that if it cost him his life.

The seven of them made their way down a wide boulevard in a huddle, each of them with their guns pointed outward to cover every direction. The streets were oddly quiet, Jae-Ha noted. They’d been down a few blocks now and still, not a single zombie had come charging at them, nor had they spotted any crouching in buildings or scratching at doors. He couldn’t be sure why, but some days were busier than others when it came to zombie traffic. And as time went on, he began to see less and less of them creeping about, as many had been killed off by him and other scouts.

As they rounded another corner, however, a cluster of zombies across the street caught Jae-Ha’s eye, and he held his arm out to tell the others to wait. The zombies hadn’t seen them yet, grunting and stumbling around the doors to an office building. He watched Shin-Ah reach into one of his many pockets, and with great precision, throw a small gas bomb toward the doors. It set off the moment it touched the ground and slithered its toxins through the cluster, offing them silently. When the last of them had hit the pavement, the team moved forward.

Yona cut through the quiet. “Where do you think he could’ve gone?”

“It’s hard to say,” said Jae-Ha. “We can try to find signs of him, clothes left behind or more active groups of zombies. At this point, though, we can’t be sure that he left Haven of his own volition.”

“Meaning someone took him?” Kija asked.

Yoon put a finger to his chin. “I can’t think of any reason for him to leave on his own, and the shoe at the entrance is likely a sign of struggle—”

Hak pushed past him and began walking faster.

“Oh.” Yoon caved in on himself a bit. “Sorry, Thunder Beast.”

Jae-Ha could faintly hear a heartbeat resounding as if it were crashing against metal with each pump. Whether it was his own or Hak’s, he wasn’t sure.

“Let’s just find my brother,” Hak said.

Minutes passed before anyone dared speak again. They walked along the empty streets and abandoned buildings, watching for danger in every nook and cranny. Jae-Ha was racking his brain for ideas, lost in his own headspace when Kija nudged his side and pointed up at a window nearby.

A pair of shoes hung from the sill, and another a few windows over. The team passed that road frequently on scoutings, but Jae-Ha didn’t remember seeing them there. Another block down and there was a different, equally peculiar window. It was graffitied, with simply an _x_ in red paint, the surrounding ones boarded up. That had not been there, either.

“Guys?” He motioned toward the window.

Zeno stopped and tilted his head. “What’s that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Kija said. “A refuge?"

“Do you… hear something from in there?” asked Shin-Ah. 

The team went quiet and listened. Voices streamed out in whispy ribbons and Jae-Ha tried to grasp them and listen, but they weren’t close enough.

He inched forward toward the apartment door and opened it, beckoning the others in to follow. It was a small building, the cramped hallway musty and smelling of rotten meat. The lightbulbs above them had been shattered and Jae-Ha led the way through the dark until they found one door open, light streaming out in tandem with the voices. 

“This is just wonderful, now we’re one missing.”

“I’m sure we could figure something out. Cheer up, would ya?”

Jae-Ha pressed himself against the wall.

“Cheer up? How do you expect me to cheer up with our merchandise gone? Do you have even the slightest idea what will happen to us now? We’ll be kicked out with no supplies at best, and at worst…”

He glanced at Kija and the others to gauge if anyone knew what the men inside were talking about. None of them had an answer.

“Aw, man, Kumji’s gonna have our necks!”

“All because of that blonde kid.”

Jae-Ha took off his helmet, leaning toward the team while they all did the same. “We should move in, maybe they know what happened to—”

_“What blonde kid?”_

And just then, Hak barged right in the door. It knocked against the wall from the force of his push and Jae-Ha—standing in bewilderment—heard the two men in the apartment gasp at the sound. He motioned for the others to follow Hak inside, however regrettably.

The apartment was filled with cardboard boxes, some closed, some filled to the brim with guns and ammo. Tangled pieces of rope littered the floor, and small bed mats lay in the corner.

“Who the hell are you?” asked one of the men.

“I _said_ …” The uneven floorboards creaked under the weight of Hak’s boots. _"_ _What blonde kid?”_

Yoon took the opportunity to check the place over and made a shoo-ing motion to make the others, as well. Jae-Ha took off for the bathroom while Zeno, Yona, and Shin-Ah dug through the living room and kitchen.

He glanced behind the toilet and in the bathtub, flinching when he checked the cupboard under the sink to find a bloodied knife and pliers. The cogs in his head were desperately attempting to turn and keep him going, but they screeched and stopped short as he examined the pliers, and bits of skin and fingernail were left on them.

Distantly, he heard voices back in the living room: “Look, buddy, I don’t know what the hell you're talking about.”

“I can’t see how much clearer I can be. Have you seen this kid or not?”

On his way to check the bedroom, he watched Hak shove a photo in the men's faces, towering over them. While Jae-Ha was never one to avoid confrontation, even he could see the aggression radiating off of him like poison gas. But he knew his friend, and he could only hope that Hak could keep a hold on himself, as well.

Kija was already in the bedroom, pulling back the sheets and checking under the bed. “Do you think those guys have something to do with Tae-Yeon?”

“I don’t know,” Jae-Ha answered. “I do wonder where they got all those guns.”

“There is a warehouse nearby, I believe. But Haven is so close, it’s astonishing that they wouldn’t want to go there.”

Jae-Ha sighed, gave one last look under the bed. “Walls aren’t for everybody. Still, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of Tae-Yeon here—”

“Jae-Ha.”

He stood to see Kija opening the closet door, stars staring back at him in flickering unrest. Jae-Ha stepped closer and looked inside, and a smell more foul than any zombie's rancid flesh flared up in his throat.

Another cardboard box, stained and moldy, flies swarming around it. Kija had put a hand over his mouth and covered his nose.

“You wanna see what’s in there?”

Kija shook his head violently. “There are bugs around it, I’m not touching it.”

“Alright, darling,” said Jae-Ha. “Just watch out for maggots, yeah?”

“AH! _Where?!_ ”

With that, Kija had jumped out of the way enough for Jae-Ha to open the box. He kept his distance, lifting the tabs at arm’s length, and it was all he could do not to gag at the smell as more of it rushed out. But he plugged his nose and lifted the last tab. A face stared back at him.

No, "face" was a generous term. It looked like someone had taken a rake to it, shredded lines scraping down the length to create something nearly unrecognizable as human. In fact, Jae-Ha might not have even realized it was a head if not for the other various parts in the box. A severed hand, a foot, an arm. A few more fingers lingering in the mix. The bottom of the box pooled with thick, congealed blood, and when Jae-Ha forced himself to look closer, he could see it bleeding through the cardboard to the carpet below.

Kija’s breathing was growing heavier behind him. Quick, panicked breaths that spurred him out of his stupor long enough to back them away and take Kija’s hands in his own, hold his face.

“I think I’m going to be sick."

Jae-Ha stroked his cheek with his thumb. “Hey, breathe. You alright, love?”

“This isn’t about me.” Kija swallowed down whatever meal he was about to empty out and took a breath. “This is about Tae-Yeon. What if they—”

A crash from the other room dragged them back to the present. Jae-Ha ran out, steeling himself, to see Hak having thrown one of the men on the ground.

_"Tell me where he went!”_

The man yelped and tried to pull himself away from the fists caught in his shirt. “I swear, man, I have no clue! He- he just snuck off!”

“So you admit you had him here? He’s my little brother, he’s seven years old and he’s out there in this infested hellhole because of you!”

“Hak!” Jae-Ha tugged Hak up to his feet, holding him by the arm. He was panting, trembling, his face dark and contorted with a rage that looked so wholly foreign on him. “Calm down, they won’t tell us anything if we threaten them.”

“Oh, they’ll tell us. This one here was just about to give me something.”

Jae-Ha looked between the two men. One on the ground, catching his breath, the other cowering in the corner. He knew a wrong move would set Hak off again, he needed to be delicate. Like he was trying not to disturb a large animal, he slowly took Tae-Yeon’s photo from his hand and held it out to the man on the ground.

“You had this kid here. Why?”

The man sighed. “We were just the transporters. We brought him here so we could grab our supplies but he escaped somewhere.”

“Transporters?” asked Yona. “For what?”

“Look, we’re not the ones you want, we were just complying so we wouldn’t get killed. There’s a business around here.”

Jae-Ha felt a prickling dread in his stomach. Every cell in his body was screaming that something was wrong, and that smell rushed back into his mind.

“Would this business have anything to do with that lovely box of spare parts in the bedroom?”

Hak tensed. “What?”

“There was a body carved up in the closet,” Jae-Ha answered. “Is it _that_ kind of business?”

The man’s face contorted into something new, not the fearfully wide eyes he held before, but a remorseful resignation. Like a child who knew they had done wrong and had gotten caught. And for a few moments, he simply looked down at the floor. Only when Hak took a step toward him did he open his mouth again.

“Like I said, he ran off and I don’t know where,” he said. “I promise you we didn’t hurt him.”

“You mentioned a name earlier. Kumji, was it?”

Jae-Ha turned to see Yona had stepped up to bat. She had a certain aura about her that he had never gotten used to—a burning drive in her eyes that went alight every time she faced a challenge. She stared the men down, not with hostility, but a gentle sternness. And for the thousandth time, it reminded him of another woman whose kindness shone like light even through—or perhaps _because_ of—her anger.

 _Gigan would've liked her,_ he couldn't help thinking. 

The man in the corner, having been silent since they’d arrived, finally allowed himself words in response to Yona’s. “He’s the boss, but we can’t tell you anything more than that. We do and you’re all dead.”

Jae-Ha could barely see his eyes. Long, dark hair covered his face even as he stood to face them.

“We all will be.”

Yona stepped toward him. “What’s your name?”

“Kye-Sook,” he said. “If you want this boy to live, I suggest finding him before Kumji does. He’ll notice soon enough that we failed to bring him anything, and if he doesn’t kill us first, he will certainly target you.”

“What were they… going to use him for?” Shin-Ah asked.

Kye-Sook’s silence was an answer in itself.

“Just find him before he gets eaten,” he said. “Or worse.”

Jae-Ha found himself stepping back to allow Yona to take Hak’s hand and lead him out of the apartment. A hand grasped his shoulder then and there was Kija with an uncertain curve to his lips, as if he wasn’t sure what face to make. Jae-Ha wasn’t sure, either.

They put their helmets back on and ventured back out onto Fuuga’s misty streets. The sun was about midway down the sky, not long before dark. They had to hurry. 

“At least we know that Little Mister isn’t with those guys,” said Zeno.

Yoon nodded. “Yeah, but now we have no leads on his location. This city is huge, he could’ve gone anywhere.”

“Hak, you both grew up here,” Jae-Ha said. “He’s a smart kid, he might’ve gone somewhere he knew you would find him. Somewhere with sentimental value.”

Hak thought it over, and Jae-Ha could see a glimmer of hope return to him, even past his dark helmet.

“There’s a theater northeast of here,” he said. “I used to sneak him in to watch movies old man Mundok wouldn’t let him see at home.”

The outside world was full of creaks and cracks, unexplained noises that Jae-Ha had gotten used to. But standing in front of that apartment, the street shrouded in silence, made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Though he supposed it should be reassuring.

“Okay, let’s go.”

The team ran through the city as Hak led the way. A few times, zombies had spotted them but were silently gunned down by Yona’s expert hand with her crossbow. They rounded block after block, never stopping or slowing, for the sky was growing darker each minute. It wasn’t until Jae-Ha could no longer take in full breaths that Hak finally stilled his hurried feet.

The theater seemed like an entity all its own, looming like a ghost over the sidewalk. Its walls stood caked with dirt and blood, and Jae-Ha wondered just how many people must have been inside when the initial outbreak began. If Tae-Yeon was in there, they had to find him quickly.

The doors were heavy like they’d been sealed in place, and it took Hak and Jae-Ha’s combined effort to push them open. Immediately they’d stepped into another world void of color. It was squalid, archaic, and Jae-Ha turned on his flashlight to tiptoe into the pitch-black expanse.

“Where in here would he be?”

“I don’t know,” said Hak. “Let’s split up until we find something.”

“Hey, guys?” Yoon turned to them with something in his hand. Jae-Ha couldn’t make it out in the dark and pointed to it with his flashlight. And nearly dropped it.

Another tiny, blue shoe. Exactly like Tae-Yeon’s at the north entrance. Shin-Ah took to the ground, eyeing the prints leading up to it and any leading away.

“He’s here… and he went that way.”

He pointed and they took off in a sprint. They rounded the corner past the concessions, down the hall of theaters. 1, 2, 3, 4… Past the abandoned, moldy snacks and 3D glasses. Past the corpses slumped against trash cans. 5, 6…

7.

Shin-Ah took a sharp turn into the room. It was even darker there, not a single window. The black screen seemingly consumed everything, pulled and stretched the room down into a deadly black hole.

“Tae-Yeon!”

Hak was spinning his head around blindly, nearly stumbling over the seats. The others got out their flashlights and began to search. He was there, Jae-Ha knew it, but where? And why wasn’t he coming out?

A quiet shuffling behind a seat near the other wall seemed to hold the answer. Hak turned toward the sound like a bird and ran toward it without hesitation.

“Tae-Yeon!”

Jae-Ha reached out. “Hak, _wait!”_

By instinct he followed and grabbed Hak by the collar, pulling him backward just in time for sharp nails and rugged teeth to miss their target. The zombie scrambled to its feet and shrieked, loud and piercing, the sound unsettlingly familiar to Jae-Ha after all his time with the scouts.

And over that time, Jae-Ha had learned some things. What noises or patterns meant what, how they grew to use sound to express their intentions. The ones that growled or grunted were typically stronger, faster, relying only on muscle and instinct for their kills.

But the ones that screamed were weaker. Children or those too small to take a crowd on their own. So when they screamed, more came running.

Almost like a hive mind, they drew each other to where the food lay in wait. And the one in front of them knew it was alone, stout, helpless. So it screamed until Jae-Ha shot it in the head and the doors burst open again.

The crash of metal against the walls shook the room and a cluster of zombies pushed their way through the seats. Jae-Ha could hardly see a thing. His eyes were adjusting slowly to the dark, and all he could make out in the emptiness were the void-like shapes of a threat he knew well but could not see. He took a defensive position, holding his forearms up to brace for a push to the ground.

When the push came, he pushed back. He slowly but surely shoved the zombie away while it clawed at his helmet, leaving scratches in his tinted visor. Its shrill yelps stung in his ears, but it didn’t matter. He was Jae-Ha, after all. He always had more tricks—and knives—up his sleeve.

His blade slid down to the confident grip of his fingers, and he kicked out and swung. He couldn’t see the kill to be certain of it, just felt the blood splatter over his helmet, so he took to one of the most important rules of zombie-slaying: double-tapping.

Jae-Ha found a shirt in the dark, then a head, and with all the grace and delicacy one would expect from a man of his caliber, slammed it into the floor.

By then his vision had adjusted a bit, and another zombie was barreling toward him. He reached for his hand pistol and shot, once, twice, three times until it went silent and a _thud_ sounded below his feet. Jae-Ha looked to the others then, where he could hear their faint breaths and shuffling equipment, and felt for the seats to move toward them. His foot bumped into something on the way and a quick set of nudges told him it was the head of a zombie.

“Jae-Ha, are you there?” he heard Kija ask.

“Yeah, I’m here,” he answered. “Just bumped into a little friend on the ground here—” Just as a light flashed on above him.

The film projector burst the room to life with a tunnel of bright white. He hadn’t realized what an old theater it must be to still have one, or perhaps it was an unused room, Jae-Ha wasn’t sure. He could see the surprise in the others’ movements and looked down to the zombie below him to maneuver around it.

But what he saw couldn’t be registered right away. It was a sight he’d never experienced in his time as a scout, something he couldn’t hope to explain.

Below him was something he could hardly call a zombie. Its skin was wrinkled and gray, its eyes and nose near non-existent. The thing had no hair and wore nothing but a tattered shirt, and its nails were more like talons than anything remotely human.

“Um, slight problem here?”

Zeno drew his attention, pointing to another corpse, and Jae-Ha made his way forward to see another equally perplexing sight. This one seemed to be half made up of just teeth. Its mouth took up most of the space of its face and its limbs were far from proportional, like a doll that had been torn apart and its parts mismatched with another’s.

The other zombies on the ground seemed mostly normal, if a bit larger in stature. A bothersome, uneasy tingling settled in Jae-Ha’s gut and so he turned to his friends with his best playful tone. 

“Dr. Yoon, your diagnosis?”

“Gross,” Yoon answered.

“What do you think happened to them?” Yona asked.

Kija put a finger to his chin. “They’ve had to live outside in Fuuga’s harsh conditions during the winter months for two years, it could be wearing on them.”

“I doubt rough weather conditions could cause this kind of change,” said Yoon as he poked at the corpse. “Unless these guys were born like this, it’s more like something’s morphing them from the inside.”

Just then, the projector flashed off. Then back on, then off, then on, a hurried loop of purging white and blinding darkness. The strain hurt Jae-Ha’s eyes, scrambled his other senses, but one fact kept him grounded in their mission.

“Someone has to be controlling the projector,” he said. “Shin-Ah, you’re sure he came inside this theater?”

Shin-Ah nodded. “He’s here… The trail led to this room.”

“Then let’s hope your super-vision is as right as always.”

They climbed up the stairs to the projector room, watching their steps with the flashing light. Hak reached it first and frantically jiggled the handle, but the heavy metal door had been locked from the inside. He rammed his side into it, took a running start, and rammed it again. Jae-Ha held a hand out to stop him from a third attempt and aligned himself, and gave the door his signature kick. It burst open with a resounding _clang_ and hit the wall.

And there on the floor, in the middle of the small room, was Tae-Yeon.

The boy turned and yelped like a frightened deer at the sound. He was shaking, his cheeks were smudged with dirt and dried blood but he looked unharmed. He stared in fearful silence until Hak removed his helmet and smiled.

“Big brother?”

“Hey, buddy.” Hak stepped toward him. “We’re gonna get you home, okay?”

Tear streaks shimmered down Tae-Yeon’s face. He stood but when Hak leaned down to hug him, he kept at a distance.

“We need to hide,” he said between soft hiccups. “They’re looking for me.”

Hak frowned and ruffled his hair. “No, kiddo, we took care of them. You’re safe.”

Tae-Yeon finally smiled through his tears, and a merciful wave of relief engulfed the scouts in its embrace. It was almost hard for Jae-Ha to believe they’d found him. He had always tried to keep a positive outlook, but he was realistic and he feared that Tae-Yeon would not be himself—would not be human—by the time they reached him. So watching the scared boy cry into his brother’s shoulder gave him a sense of relieved astoundment. And when Hak stood with Tae-Yeon’s hand in his own, it seemed everything would be alright. But life was never so simple was it?

Of course, it couldn’t be. Not in the world that existed now. And Jae-Ha should have known that, should have _expected_ it. But he hadn’t.

Perhaps he’d gotten his hopes up.

The first sign that something was not right was the sound of something tiny rushing through the air, then hitting its target. And Jae-Ha turned just in time to see Hak with a dart in his neck, falling to the floor.

Immediately, he held up his gun but the projector shut back off, and once again he was helpless in the dark. He spun around, pointing at everything, or nothing, just waiting for something to happen. Until someone grabbed him and shoved his head into the wall.

His skull bounced around in his helmet and he heard a loud _crack_ from his visor. Through the dizzying pain, all he could register was the sensation of falling and the plop of his body against the ground. The projector light flipped back on then and as his senses trickled back, the first thing he heard was the confused struggling of his friends, dropping one after another behind him. And the last thing he saw before his vision spotted out was his own hand reaching out for Tae-Yeon, as men dressed in black dragged him away.

* * *

When Jae-Ha came to, it was to someone pulling his head upright by his hair. Direct light from the sunset burned a stinging red through his eyelids. He couldn’t bring himself to open them. Not until a name pushed through to the front of his clouded mind.

_Kija._

“Awake, at last.”

The fist in his hair let him go and he looked down at himself with a start. His gear was gone.

His helmet, vest, pads—all gone. He was kneeling on the ground, his hands and feet tied up behind him.

“Now then, I hope this arrangement isn’t too uncomfortable.”

It was a voice he’d never heard before, gruff and confident like rocks rushing through saltwater. But before he could put together a witty response, the sound of weak groans behind him took his attention.

Kija was there, along with the rest of his friends, tied up just like him. Guards stood around them in a circle, and after gazing at them to make sure they were unharmed, Jae-Ha looked up toward the voice.

“My name is Kumji,” the man in front of him said. “Welcome to Hell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dunnnnnnn!! Is that cheesy? Probably. I have no idea how to follow up endings, I suppose. I keep leaving y'all on cliffhangers 😭 But the plot thickens! Next time, we'll see what Kumji plans to do with our favorite bunch~  
> Until then, be safe, stay cozy, and have a good night!!
> 
> (PS I know the "screaming zombie" trope is overused in like, EVERY video game ever but I'm fond of it lmao 🤷)

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaand thus concludes the first chapter!! I hope this one gave a good introduction to the kind of life the HHB has been living, but feel free to ask questions and rest assured there will be more specific explanations next chapter, too :D (which hopefully won't be too info-dumpy but oh well).
> 
> 'Til Death's chapters were very inconsistent length-wise and just kept getting longer, so I think this one will be a little better about that. My assumption is there will be shorter chapters in general, but there will be more of them and a longer story so I hope that makes up for it :) I'm planning on posting bi-weekly on this one instead of every week just so I don't get burnt out.
> 
> Also, for the readers who don't know me irl I live in the US and I'm posting this in sort of a daze on the night the election was decided, I woke up to the news and I've been running on a kick all day!! But before this morning greeted me with that comfort, there was a lot of uncertainty and anxiety surrounding it as I worked to get this up. With the state of the world and my own life getting more complicated as I get older, coming to write these fics has become an escape for me and I hope that I can give you lovely folks an escape as well. In any case, I'm here to provide Jaeki and provide Jaeki I shall! Two weeks from today (it's currently Saturday night for me) we'll get some more concrete answers about how Haven functions, and what the team is going to do about finding Tae-Yeon. I hope you enjoyed this one, and stay tuned!!


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